Do are you know people who are about your age, have about the same experience, and aren’t more talented/smart/capable than you, but who are more successful in their career than you? Are you puzzled about what they have that you don’t? What do they do/who do they know/how do they do it? Do you want to go faster, too?

There are some tools that can help you accelerate your career success. I call them career accelerants.

Mindset.

How you think. What you think. When you think. All make a huge difference in how fast and how well your career progresses. Mind set includes:

Your Attitude–“I can. I will.”

Being Positive

Constantly Learning

Being committed

Adaptability.

There is an old Chinese proverb that says that the wise adapt themselves to circumstances, as water molds itself to the pitcher. The second you get stuck with “this is the way it is” or “I’m not going to do this,” is the beginning of the end of your upward trajectory in that organization. The way I think of it is, “If I had started at this organization today, I wouldn’t object to this. I would just do it.” This can apply to systems, processes, organizations, etc. It doesn’t occur to us to ‘resist’ when we’re new to an organization. Try to adopt that way of looking at things.

Tools.

Use whatever tools you can to help you learn/understand/experience faster. Some of the best tools are:

Books

Feedback

Goals/Measures

Training

Energy.

You need a high level of energy to speed up your career. You are more in control of your energy level than you might think. For high energy you need:

Good Health

Fitness

Mindset

Infrastructure.

Successful careers need an infrastructure too. Set up your life so that it supports your career. To do this, you need:

A Support System

De-clutter your life–get rid of the things that you ‘tolerate,’ but which weigh you down–anything from messy desks to people who suck you dry

Balance–whatever this means for you (not what others think). Keep adjusting this, it is a work in progress.

You are in control of your career. If it isn’t moving the way you want it to, look at this list and start experimenting with changing the way you’re doing things.